Some find their life’s calling in a flash of insight, or through sleepless nights of toil. For others, it takes an act of kindness. But when one man’s charity helps another realize his calling is to end a third man’s life, what then? And what is one to do when the intended victim is the president of the United States?

4004 BC: In this retelling of the Adam & Eve story, a hermit’s life is turned upside-down by the arrival of a mysterious woman in his camp. As the story of their portentous meeting carries forward through the millennia, only time will tell if Lilith is a heroine, a victim, or a monster.

An old sorceress returns to her homeland, determined to seek revenge for the sins of the past, while embroiled in a plot that will jeopardise the future of her world.
Blurring the boundaries between good and evil, this intriguing short story serves as prelude to the epic fantasy/science-fiction novel "The Key of Alanar". Rory Mackay is author of the critically acclaimed novel "Eladria".

Fourteen Science Fiction tales that span the galaxy. From a plague-ravaged London to the galactic core, from the Krell Empire of the Green Sun to the Epsilon-Eridani System where a group of human mercenaries fight for a hated alien race.
'Interplanetary tales' is a varied selection of stories containing humor, horror and a deep fear of the dark places between the planets.

Olwen finds her life taking a direction she’d never imagined when she and a huge tract of the Daintree Rainforest are transported on board a starship.
Dealing with aliens, alien animals and space pirates, Olwen is doing her best to adapt to her surroundings –
And then she learns something that will change her life again, this time forever...

The Gathering begins like all others. The Healer claims unnatural powers and uses poor Latin. But the snake-bearer is new to brothers Mark and Orin. As the snake-bearer’s role becomes clear, Mark is scandalized. The prices the Healer demands are too high. And the outcomes, questionable. “He’s just another fraud,” Mark says. So then, why does Mark feel the Healer rummaging around in his head?

Bill Lett is the best ganglion network driver around. Too bad his train needs some serious maintenance. Just when a big job has come his way. Big enough to pay off all his debts. If he can just get the train into the network. A Ganglion Trains story, from the author of Thousand Mile Void.

A large mall springs up seemingly overnight in place of an apple orchard and suddenly; the number of stores inside intrigues the townspeople. Most advertise for Help Wanted and several of the locals apply. The startling thing is that that all of the shopkeepers seem to know about the applicants, even before they open their mouths.

Still trying to convince members of the former Centauri Alliance she can be trusted, Selaynia finds herself kidnapped - apparently by the organization she once worked for - and taken to a new world where members of the group Omega are coming together.
An alien intelligence takes an interest in the group -- but just who are they and what do they want with the refugees?

“It’s clear that they don’t want me dead—maybe they want what is in my mind…”
A man wakes up in a spherical room with no memory of how she got there or why he is there. As he grapples with his new reality, he discovers that all is not quite as it seems, and that he is a part of a harvest—and one that he may not survive.

Apex Magazine is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine featuring original, mind-bending short fiction from many of the top pros of the field. New issues are released on the first Tuesday of every month.

To a future girl, Mishell, who flies with the aid of anti-gravity wings, the death in a freak accident of a beloved older brother, Mykel, is hard to accept. Why had it happened? To Mykel, of all people? Why ? Rebelliously going AWOL from her home spacecraft, cruising the sky of an earth-like planet, Mishell is worshipped by primitive people who believe she is an angel. A short story.

Lucas Thissel has something he fears: an alien species of palm-sized glass fairies called Lucent Sylphs. They came through a portal from a parallel, metaphysical dimension, and they indenture themselves as slaves to human beings. Too much neglect or unkindness, and they will cloud over and disintegrate. Too much love and their hearts are overcome and burst.
And one has attached herself to him.